Analysis: Maccabi Tel Aviv facing a major personnel problem

At the core of Maccabi's issues - with the exception of Arroyo - is weak perimeter play, both offensively and defensively.

By LOUIE LAZAR
maccabi arroyo 248.88 asaf kliger (photo credit: Asaf Kliger [file])
maccabi arroyo 248.88 asaf kliger
(photo credit: Asaf Kliger [file])
To optimists among the Maccabi Tel Aviv faithful, the club's unprecedented early season woes - which included seven consecutive preseason losses and an 81-79 defeat in its Euroleague opener against Cibona Zagreb on Thursday - have been the result of an offseason facelift that saw the 47-time league champs lose approximately 80% of its offensive scoring output from a year ago. This view isn't without merit. While Maccabi did reload over the summer with the acquisition of former NBA point guard Carlos Arroyo - in addition to other key signings - Tel Aviv's top four scorers from 2007-08 Euroleague play are gone, and an adjustment period is only natural. Plus, one must be cautious when criticizing any team for its struggles during exhibition play. Elite, championship-caliber teams have an innate ability to raise their performance levels when the stakes demand it, and Maccabi's training games, while troubling, carried about as much significance as a driveway shooting contest between a father and son. But after 11 contests in which its first-unit players have logged considerable minutes, what's become clear is that Maccabi's root problems stem not from poor chemistry, but from major shortcomings with its personnel. At the core of Maccabi's issues - with the exception of Arroyo - is weak perimeter play, both offensively and defensively. On offense, Maccabi is in desperate need of a reliable complement to the Puerto Rican guard. While certainly a scoring-minded floor general, Arroyo, in order to be effective, needs to play alongside a serviceable perimeter weapon, ideally someone who can consistently knock down open three-pointers. Tel Aviv assumed that Chester 'Tre' Simmons - who averaged just under 15 points a game for BSL champion Hapoel Holon a year ago and was signed by Maccabi over the summer - would take on that critical role. But Simmons, who has a reputation for extreme levels of streakiness from the outside, has had his faucet stuck on cold since arriving in Tel Aviv. In the starting lineup at the preseason's outset, Simmons' playing time gradually decreased as more and more of his shots misfired. On Thursday in Croatia, the former University of Washington star didn't even see the court, and he's now rumored to possibly be on his way out. With these ideas in mind, Maccabi recently signed guard Marcus Brown, the Euroleague's all-time leading scorer. But at 34, the veteran probably cannot be counted upon as a reliable pressure-reliever for Arroyo. For Maccabi to be at its best, Arroyo cannot be forced to single-handedly carry the load, as he attempted unsuccessfully to do in the season opener. Without a perimeter threat to kick to, Arroyo - after getting by his defender and maneuvering his way into the lane - resorted to forcing up low-percentage shots in traffic. And with little player movement along the three-point arc, he consistently heaved up desperate shots or simply turned the ball over. The result was an abysmal 2 for 13 shooting performance. One telling statistic on Thursday was that 55 of the Maccabi's 79 points came from its frontcourt. After Arroyo (10 points), Tal Burstein (7 points) and Brown (5 points) were ineffective from the guard position. Even more troubling, however, has been Maccabi's perimeter defense. Throughout the preseason, Tel Aviv's inability to effectively defend the three-point shot was a primary factor in many of its defeats. Throughout the training schedule and again against Cibona, Maccabi's guards were consistently blown past off the dribble, forcing defenders to help off their men, and leading to endless open looks from beyond the arc. A failure to close out on three point shooters - a defensive fundamental acquired at the most nascent stages of basketball learning - has plagued Maccabi as well. Examples of this problem are numerous. Against Galil/Gilboa in its humiliating Winner Cup quarterfinals loss, Maccabi allowed a whopping 11 treys - the majority of which were uncontested. Time and again getting beaten off the dribble, opposing guards drove into the lane at ease and kicked out to open shooters, a hand rarely in their faces. And the Galil episode wasn't an isolated incident. Maccabi's exhibition campaign was riddled with what seemed like one opponents' long distance shooting barrage after another. At the Ljublijana tournment in Slovenia, Maccabi's penchant for leaving shooters alone proved critical in back-to-back defeats and a last-place tournament finish. Against Panathinaikos, a fairly-comfortable nine-point third quarter lead evaporated when, over the course of four minutes, the Greeks stormed back with a 17-4 spurt, highlighted by four largely unchallenged three pointers. Certainly, the keys to sound defense are effort and mental toughness, but limited perimeter athleticism has prevented Maccabi from putting the clamps on any of its opponent's shooters. In short, in the absence of an adequate long range shooter and more athleticism out of the guard position, Maccabi's offense will continue to be one-dimensional and stagnant, while its defense will continue to be burned by the long distance shot.